Mobo

[Terry1953]

What do you guys think one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131876 or another Sabertooth? I want to build Ryan a super gamer for Graduation so I won't be sparing the dollars. It's getting a pair of 7970's, 3 if I can fit them in and cool them.

[Dirk Broer]

There's only one thing better -ASUS socket AM3+ wise- than the Crosshair V Formula-Z -and that's the Crosshair V Formula-Z with Thunderbolt support.
Both Crosshairs lack PCIe 3.0 support though, and the Sabertooth will support even three HD 7970s [3 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (dual x16 or x16/x8/x8)] -but better buy a 1400 Watt PSU as well with plenty of cables to support triple Crossfire.
I do hope your son makes use of the goodies as a gamer as well, but otherwise you've built yourself one hell of a crunching machine...
You can even buy one of the HD 7970s together with a FX 8350 and get rebate

[Terry1953]

Thanks Dirk, I think I'll go with another Sabertooth. He runs 3 monitors and is like all his friends (a game nut!) He's headed off to college later this month so it'll go with him to his dorm room. Shoot he even says he needs a sound card so he can hear them sneaking up on him. I have no idea what goes on heck I'm happy with my 4800+ as my main rig. I already have another 8350 here and I sure don't want any more, I'll wait for the newer stuff to come out, and I might build me one. Oh and he's only getting 2 7970's unless he want's to buy the third one. From what I've been reading he'll be better off with 2 7970's than a 7990 plus it'll save me a couple of hundred bucks.

[Dirk Broer]

He likes goodies like this?

[AMDave]

... He's headed off to college later this month so it'll go with him to his dorm room. ...

Make sure the case has a security slot, cut and add an extra steel plate in the inside of the case + get a Kensington lock (I use these keyed ones) that he can secure it with.
If at all possible, replace the case screws with some nice and obscure security screws.
He'll need to blow the dust out once in a while so get the screw key as well.
Nothing worse than rocking up to your machine and finding the guts have been mercilessly ripped out.
If you can do that you can get it insured cheaply. Well, a lot cheaper than replacing it anyway.

[NeoGen]

Dirk, that goodie plus a good noise-cancelling headset and no one will sneak up on him on games for sure.
Terry, if he is in campus I hope you can give him a 4G net adapter to go along. The network speeds in campus are usually not that good, and heavy gamers cannot be victims to network lag.

As far as the mobo for AM3+, I would go for the Sabertooth because of the PCIe 3.0, but for a pure gaming rig and if you're really looking to spare no expenses... I would go for the "other brand" of CPUs. I hate to admit it but their high end CPUs are really good, and in terms of motherboards with PCIe 3.0 you will have no lack of options.

If you do get 2x 7970, or even 3, then liquid cooling might be a necessity as well, not just the heat but the noise can drive a person crazy. (Or you can just get the *really* good noise cancelling headset)

[Dirk Broer]

The first Haswell boards are just presented, hope AMD has something up their sleeve as well...

[plonk420]

i like the Sabertooths' warranties (usually 5 years), tho i've never owned one :I

[Dirk Broer]

And another thing: it's an almost complete line of products (select TUF Series), only the FM1 and FM2 mobo's lack.
There are three AMD 990FX Sabertooths, but also a Z77, a P67 (both butt-ugly socket 1155), a X79 (socket 2011), a X58 (socket 1366) and a Sabertooth 55i (socket 1156)
We should perhaps -with the aid of photoshop- send a proposal to ASUS for a FM2 Sabertooth...with CeraM!X Heatsinks, extra fan pin-outs and PCIe 3.0

[Terry1953]

Thanks guys I think I'm going to build it in this but with a 1200w PS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811133138 it locks front and side. But, if they want it they'll just pick it up and walk off. And yea Dirk that's about the sound card he wants. I had my 4800 in that case but it was real good air handling and filters on the intakes. While I'm at it I'm going to finally replace these 939 setups with a couple of Phenom II X4 965's that I ordered. They'll just be to run some GPU's and maybe a few wu's.